Trump Rally As Witnessed by Antifascist Action Phoenix

Editor's note: In the eyes of the average Trump supporter, Antifa is more hated than CNN, the KKK, Nazi's or even Hillary Clinton. ConsideringAntifa has historically fought against authoritarian regimeslike Trump throughout the world and decades before Trump, this should be no surprise.Fox News and conservative talk radio have worked over-time to instill this into the minds of their mostly white, male audience. Below is Antifa's eye witness report from the Trump Rally on Tuesday, August 22. Besides a rare sighting of the notorious anti-Islam extremist and militia member John Ritzheimer caught allegedly breaking his terms of probation, they also share their perspective on who threw what and who threw first​before the police gassed protesters. Below is their report.

Report Back For A22

Greetings from the barricades of colonized “Phoenix, Arizona.” We are Antifascist Action Phoenixand this is what happened on 8/22/17, the day Trump came to town.

From the start it was going to be a very busy day, with five to eight anti-Trump events all scheduled for the same time everyone had something to choose from. We arrived at Civic Space Park around 5 pm and made contact with members from other anarchist groups from around town, picked up some waters from the Puente folx who had an aid station there, and made our way towards the Herberger Theatre via Polk Street going east to 2nd Street.

At the corner of 2nd Street and Polk one of our members shouted out, “HEY! I KNOW THAT BALD HEAD,” pointing to a person dressed in a black, long sleeved, buttoned up shirt, tie and sunglasses. He was walking north on 2nd Street carrying a banner and talking on his cell phone. When he heard our member shout he picked up the pace a little bit but when our member completely realized who he was and let out, “IT’S RITZHEIMER! JOHN RITZCRACKER IS HERE,” he bolted for his truck. One of our members, who has been publicly harassed and threatened by Ritzheimer and his goons, sprinted over to him and started confronting him on what he was doing there. We got a pic of him and the license plate on his truck. After he was in his truck and on his way, realizing that he was made and violated the terms of his parole, we made our way south on 2nd Street towards the Herberger.

The Phoenix Police Department had city dump trucks blocking the intersection of 2nd Street and Van Buren Street and also on Monroe Street in an attempt to make sure that a Charlottesville style of attack didn't take place. In reality they were placed there for crowd control and to make it easier to kettle any unruly protesters. The plaza in front of the Herberger was packed. There were so many different types of people there, unlike the folx heading into the convention center. It was a sea of colors, one big community; multicultural and multifaceted, just how Phoenix is and always will be. (It got to the point later on in the evening that they were allowing folx to be in the parking garage on the west side of 2nd Street watching from the top two tiers). We found our comrades in the Bandidos Football Supporters Club and the Phoenix Brown Berets and started walking through the plaza. There was a lot of chanting and booing of trump supporters heading into the convention center but nothing too menacing or antagonizing was going on when we arrived. We were thanked for being there and of course, as per usual, asked why we mask up and didn’t we think it’s intimidating or considered violent to wear masks. And, as always, we replied, “It is not violent or intimidating to wear masks. It is for our protection, our comrades protection, other organizers protection, and our family's and friend’s protection. We do not use them to intimidate but simply to assure that we won’t get ‘doxxed’ and that we all stay safe.” We walked around the plaza a little while more and finally settled into the center of it after the motorcade made it into the Civic Center and dumped it’s load.

Photo courtesy of Lamp Left Media

At around 7:30 PM someone (we’re currently assuming he was a member of PPD and undercover because he had an earpiece in and was making hand motions towards other police officers)threw a water bottle towards the police line and some of the folx heading into the trump rally. PPD came and snatched the man from in front of the barricade after he started getting aggressive towards us and others in his general vicinity and escorted him away. The Red Squad (Phoenix Community Liaison officers,) came up at that time to remind us all that we were being watched. There was a general warning given by PPD at that time about not throwing water bottles and from then on no other bottles, or anything else for that matter, was thrown.

Around 8 pm another posse of anarchists arrived and set up their banners right next to us and just behind the crowd in front of the barricades facing the convention center. At approximately 8.30 or 8.45p the UCC started their march towards the state capital and the confederate monument erected at Wesley Bolin Plaza across from the capital. Also at the same time more members of PPD’s riot police starting coming out of the convention center entrance and into the street facing the plaza and those of us gathered there. As the march was making its way out of the plaza the area in front of the barricade started to clear out and the anarchists took up the open spot and we provided support next to them.

At approximately 9:00 PM the anarchists placed their banners over the front of the barricades and were holding them there. As we all were standing there; anarchists, citizens, and other protesters, started chanting and rattling the barricades a little bit along with the chanting, PPD opened fire. Indiscriminately, without provocation, and without warning PPD unleashed not only rubber bullets but also tear gas, pepper balls, percussion grenades and flash bangs. The plaza filled with a yellow gaseous haze as the first tear gas canister exploded. The pepper balls unleashed a stinging, irritating gas that made the eyes burn, sinuses swell, and skin feel like it was on fire. We gathered everyone up that we could; our own comrades, citizens, a woman in a wheel chair that we had to get over a barricade, and anyone else who was panicked and unsure as to what was going on.

Folx were panicking; people were falling over each other in the stampede trying to exit the plaza cordoned off by dump trucks and metal barricades, coughing and crying as the gas attacked the lungs and sinuses, screaming and yelling as pepper balls and rubber bullets found bodies, and flash bangs and percussion grenades distorted reality and blinded people who were, just moments before, protesting a white supremacist president and the people who support him.

This is not anything new for Phoenix. PPD is a racist policing organization with itchy trigger fingers and a history of killing people of color and people with mental health issues. From Michelle Cusseax, Rumain Bisbon, Daniel Shaver, Kayden Clark, and the 50 other people killed by PPD last year, this department is no stranger to blood on its hands. We will stand up to them for those who can’t and we will continue the struggle against the white supremacists/nationalists/separatists/identitarians, proud boys, and stick men who are supporting the rise of the fascist regime and the violent, deadly, racist rhetoric and hatred that they spread.

Mesa Families Fight Gentrification, Win Temporary Victory.

Many of the families living at Mesa Royale Mobile Home Park have lived there for at least 15 years, some even longer. Most had purchased their trailers from the park's owner.

While the city of Mesa has planned to gentrify the area for some time, the residents were never notified until May of this year. At that time, the city inspector told them of code violations (mostly electrical) that have been existent for generations.

At that time, instead of citing violations, about 125 families with about 300 children were told they would have to move as the city would be closing the park.

Neither the city of Mesa nor the park owners offered any compensation to the residents to relocate their mobile homes. (a cost that typically runs into thousands of dollars).

In June, the city decided to issue code violations to the families as well as an official eviction notice of November 24.

Worse yet, the owner who sold the mobile homes to the residents neglected certain details over the years-like proper titles to their homes. Legal issues are now surfacing as to whether the park owner had the legal ownership over some of the trailers which he sold to the residents. Titles were not properly transferred and chasing these legal documents has become an additional (and costly) burden for the families already served with eviction.

It was then that the families started fighting back. Through The Comités de Defensa del Barrio, (CDB) they began organizing. CDB describes itself as "Indigenous Peoples who struggle to Defend Civil Rights-Human Rights-Indigenous Rights and the Rights of Mother Earth.” They protested twice every week near the downtown area of the light railand city hall, which is about a half a mile from Mesa Royale. Mesa PD tried to stop the protests by threatening to cite them for using mega-phones. But the protesters were not intimidated and (with mega-phones) kept the bi-weekly actions going despite the threats from law enforcement.

But the fight was only beginning. To take on a city with a long historyof doing as it pleases to the working poor and minorities, legal representation was going to be needed. Since the people who live there are mostly Mexican, working class families, lawyers weren’t about to take this case-that is, with the exception of one law firm: The Law Office of Ray A. Ybarra Maldonado, PLC. Call it what you wish -- a stroke of luck or an answer to the prayers of hard working people, getting Ray Ybarra to take this mess of a case was an incredible blessing.

Ray drafted 72 notices of appeal for 72 families and was prepared to fight for each one of them. The families, themselves did the filing.This week, the city of Mesa postponed the hearings and changed their plans to evict the families. They are now being given 30 months to vacate instead of the November deadline.

Ray recently informed me that "30 months was the minimum I was told, but if everything gets brought up to code, in theory it could become permanent."

The city says there a new owner interested in the buying the trailer park. While this is certainly good news, the fight is far from over. Mesa Royale Mobile Home Park is a prime area for a new light rail station and corporate owned developments.

Sal Reza, founder and organizer of CDB states "It’s a temporary fix but we made the city of Mesa blink for the first time. They are just use to running over people.”